‘Marshall Law!’: Dozens of GOP Politicians Texted Meadows About Overturning 2020

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows texted with at least 34 members of Congress about both legal and extralegal means that could be used by former President Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election, according to a new report from Talking Points Memo. 

South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman, for example, called for “invoking Marshall [sic] Law!” in a Jan. 17 text to Meadows, three days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Texas Rep. Brian Babin, meanwhile, told Meadows on Nov. 6 that “when we lose Trump we lose our Republic.” 

“We’re with you down here in Texas and refuse to live under a corrupt Marxist dictatorship,” Babin wrote. “Fight like hell and we’ll find a way.”

Meadows received at least 364 text messages from GOP members of Congress about overturning the results and sent nearly 100 of his own, Talking Points Memo reported. Meadows’ texts were obtained by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and the events leading up to it. 

The text messages provide further evidence that the Trump administration’s effort to steal the 2020 election was backed by many rank and file House Republicans, most of whom are still in Congress. Come January, these Republican politicians will find themselves in the House majority. 

The messages with Meadows are replete with the far-right conspiracy theories that began popping up immediately following the election. Norman, for example, cited disproven claims about Dominion Voting Systems’ voting machines in his Jan. 17 message to Meadows.

“Mark, in seeing what’s happening so quickly, and reading about the Dominion law suits attempting to stop any meaningful investigation we are at a point of no return in saving our Republic !!” Norman wrote. 

In a statement to VICE News Tuesday, Norman said that “Martial Law was never warranted.” 

“That text message came from a source of frustration, on the heels of countless unanswered questions about the integrity of the 2020 election, without any way to slow down and examine those issues prior to the inauguration of the newly elected president,” Norman added.

By the time Norman had sent those messages, though, there were no legal means remaining to challenge the results—Biden had already been certified as the winner for more than a week. Trump himself conceded on Jan. 7 that Biden would take office and that his focus at that point was “ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power.” 

Meadows apparently received text messages from members of Congress just repeating claims they heard as a pretext for the federal government to call for an audit. “I know of at least 2 people who told me they mailed in their ballots and voted in person so you can tell them they might be interested in going over all votes in Nevada,” Missouri Rep. Billy Long reportedly wrote.

“Ok,” Meadows responded, according to TPM. (Long’s office did not respond to a request for comment, according to TPM.)

The Jan. 6 committee—which is made up of primarily Democrats as well as two Republican critics of Trump’s efforts to block Biden from taking office—is expected to approve a report of its findings at a public meeting on Dec. 21, prior to Republicans taking control of the House in January. The committee is considering criminal referrals for Trump, Meadows, and lawyers John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, and Jeffrey Clark, CNN reported last week. 

The overwhelming majority of Republicans who reportedly tried to overturn the election, however, will likely never face any sort of repercussions for their efforts. 

North Carolina Rep. Ted Budd, for example, voted to deny certification of Pennsylvania and Arizona’s electoral votes. Budd reportedly texted Meadows on Nov. 7 alleging ties between Dominion and liberal billionaire George Soros, the target of a plethora of right-wing conspiracy theories. “Praying for your health!” Budd told Meadows. “FYI Dominion Voting Systems is owned by State Street Capital, which are Carlyle (Rubenstein alums), Rubenstein is a longtime co-investor with Soros Capital.”

Budd won’t be in the House next year—but only because the Trump-backed congressman won election to the Senate last month.